We experimented with the idea of a With Leather open discussion thread for Friday’s UFC 141 pay-per-view, so I’m opening up the concept to fake fighting. Two very important reasons:

1. Tonight is the payoff for the mysterious “It Begins” videos that’ve been playing on and around Raw over the last couple of months. We’ve gotten a few definite answers on who it’s gonna be, but nothing definite definite, so we want to know what you think. Who is it Beginning for on tonight’s show?

2. “It Begins” could be hype videos for Rod Belding. By way of The John Report comes the hilarious, amazing news that Rod’s square brother Richie, former principal of Bayside High School (aka ‘Saved by the Bell’ star and comedic genius turned lecherous, drunken appearance hound Dennis Haskins) wants a regular, on-camera role as WWE Raw’s General Manager. This may be too wonderful to be true:

Actor Dennis Haskins, better known as Mr. Belding from Saved By The Bell, recently spoke with MemphiSport.com about his quest to become WWE’s RAW General Manager.

There is a petition going around on Twitter to get Haskins hired by WWE as the RAW General Manager. Haskins has appeared on Zack Ryder’s YouTube show and is a known wrestling fan. There was talk months back of Haskins hosting RAW but it never happened.

The petition currently has less than 400 signatures. Haskins is asking fans to bring “Belding for GM” signs to Monday’s RAW Supershow in Memphis. He has received the support from guys like Ryder, The Miz, CM Punk, Diamond Dallas Page and others.

This would be amazing, but I don’t think he’d do a good job. I mean, look at what happened the last time he was in charge of wrestling:

So tell us … what’s going to happen on tonight’s show? Will an earthquake accidentally lock Mr. Belding and Santino Marella in the GM’s office together? Will Brock Lesnar show up and lose in about a minute when Jinder Mahal knees him in the stomach? Will the Undertaker and Chris Jericho re-debut simultaneously, assuming those videos were for them? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

My favorite is the earthquake episode, specifically when Mr. Belding and Screech are stuck in Belding’s office, and they try to open the door, but the knob falls off, and then he tries the phone and he hits the numbers frantically and goes…. “ITS DEAD” and just throws it. It makes me laugh every time.

“Friends Forever”, the entire “We all managed to get summer jobs at the same swanky resort, even though none of us have any connections whatsoever” season, and the oil spill episode, where Zack goes all vigilante on the presentation guy.

There’s a picture of Undertaker and McCool supposedly in TN floating around too. Taker comes back first tonight, making everyone think it’s him and then Y2J interrupts Punk/Ziggler at the end of the night.

I think the swerve that nobody has picked up on is that this is a promo hyping the return of Marty Janetty. It just makes sense. Think about it, he’s had decades to stew over that kick through the barbershop window. HBK is retired and killing all the animals for a TV show, and Miz just got Janetty’d by Cena last week. It’s all so clear to me.

I think belding could totally ace the Michael Cole Challenge. Side note: I hope this doesn’t seep into the hilarity that is the NHL Winter Classic. Every insane hockey personality in the same broadcast translates to concussed old people yelling at each other.

I read somewhere that it should be the Undertaker with the American Badass gimmick and Michelle McCool would be his “old lady.” This leads to a match with Clay Morrow at Wrestlemania with Half-Sack as the special guest referee.

I fully expect Jericho, obviously. I expect Punk to beat Ziggler and then be interrupted by a video package that ends with Jericho’s arrival. I thought for a brief moment Morrison getting future-endeavored was a work seeing as how they mentioned him by name repeatedly in the time since his contract was up. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’s a sloppy-drunk Scott Hall who falls face first on his way to the ring.

THESTINGER believes that no matter who it is that it will be disappointing. The only thing they can do is just have Jericho / Undertaker / Batista / Kharma / Brock return as a mega stable or something.

THESTINGER is a bit of a mark for Jericho but all the same THESTINGER is getting tired of his returning. This will have to be the last time he does it or else Cena will get pissed off that he doesn’t have perfect attendance this semester.

It would be awesome if Jericho returned, and then Undertaker showed up and challenged him (maybe for Wrestlemania?) for taking his return time. (and then Brodus Clay showed up and challenged them both for getting to show up before he does)

Ugh, John Cena’s “you paid your money so it’s okay if you shit on me really” schtick is so bad. Way to be a prostitute, bro. THESTINGER even discouraged people from booing you last week at the DC house show.

Cena- “I’ve been wrestling the same people, winning, making insane amounts of money and have been getting the same response for almost a decade. So I think I’m good and will continue to be happy” shocking

Also, Brandon, are you going to be doing live/open threads for the next fifty weeks of MMA? Because that would be rad, and I’d actually get to participate since I won’t be hanging with family for the next fifty weeks, probably.

LMFAO this is the best thing ever WWE has proven that to have a show you dont need matches or promos you can literally just have some guy walk around and fucking high five ppl for probably the whole time

So he’s here to mock how the WWE Universe is stupid and pops for anything? And that everyone is easy to please and there doesn’t actually need to be any content? And how we like the idea of wrestlers we’re familiar with more than actual wrestling? And expose how shallow wrestling truly is?

I need to read Raw Review right now, can not wait for your rant on Jericho. Hell, just do the thing on Jericho’s promo, I’m going to be too busy anxietying over what you’re going to say about the Jericho promo to read anything else with any kind of interest.

I’m semi-impressed just by the through line of making Zach Ryder Cena’s little buddy for weeks prior to this. At the time, I thought maybe they were just glomming Cena on to leach likable points off of Ryder but maybe, just maybe, they’re trying to make him more human and relatable in the process.